The Life and Times of ‘Baby Doc’

The Life and Times of ‘Baby Doc’

Jean-Claude Duvalier, a former president ofHaiti known as Baby Doc who ruled the country with a bloody brutality and then shocked it anew with a sudden return from a 25-year exile in 2011, died on Saturday in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He was 63.

Mr. Duvalier continued to defend what human rights workers called one of the most oppressive governments in the Western Hemisphere, following in the footsteps of his father, François, known as Papa Doc, who died in 1971. The son was 19 when he assumed the post “president for life,” as he and his father called it, becoming the youngest head of state at the time.

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Though generally viewed as less harsh than his father, he never apologized for atrocities, including brutal crackdowns on opponents at the hands of the feared Tonton Macoutes, a civilian militia that left a thousand people, if not more, dead, disappeared or illegally detained.

Death of a Dictator

Indeed, he defended himself as victims of his government pursued cases in Haitian courts on charges of corruption and human rights abuses. Mr. Duvalier appeared in court and calmly denied any wrongdoing, and even asserted that the country was better off when he ruled.

“Were there deaths and summary executions under your government?” a judge asked him at a hearing in February 2013.

“Deaths exist in all countries,” Mr. Duvalier replied almost inaudibly. “I didn’t intervene in the activities of the police.”

He dined regularly at restaurants in Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital, and attended events at the invitation of Mr. Martelly, whose administration has included relatives and allies of people associated with Mr. Duvalier.

A brief statement released by Mr. Martelly’s office said he learned of Mr. Duvalier’s death “with great sadness” and made no mention of the former president’s iron-fisted rule.

“On behalf of the entire government and people of Haiti, I take this sad occasion to extend my sincere sympathies to his family, his relatives and his supporters across the country,” Mr. Martelly said.

Richard Sassine, a close friend of Mr. Duvalier, told The Miami Herald that Mr. Duvalier had been writing a memoir that would correct misunderstandings about him and his tenure.

“He was a gentle giant,” Mr. Sassine said. “Not this tyrant.”

This year, his old political party announced that it would field candidates in elections, and opened an office, though analysts were not sure if it was a serious move or a thumb in the eye of the rival he loathed, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, another formerly exiled president who also returned and still is a political force.

Mr. Duvalier fled Haiti in 1986, as political repression and a worsening economy set off violent unrest in the hemisphere’s poorest country. He asked France for asylum and the United States for the plane to take him there, an American official said at the time.

His departure set the stage for democratic, though tumultuous, elections four years later that lifted Mr. Aristide, a former priest to the poor, to power. (Years later, he, too, was chased from the country by political upheaval.) Human rights groups have said that Mr. Duvalier looted Haiti’s treasury of millions of dollars and largely lived off ill-gotten gains.

His presence in the country, and the fact that he will now escape trial, appalled victims and human rights workers who worked to bring him to justice.

“On Duvalier’s death I’m thinking of the look in my mother’s eyes when she talks about her brother Joel who was disappeared by that dictator,” Patrick Gaspard, a Haitian-American who is the United States ambassador to South Africa, said on Twitter. “News of the passing of Duvalier makes me honor my father and generations of Haitians who resisted that vicious dictatorship.”

Still, a majority of the population now was born after his departure, perhaps dampening passions for or against him.

“He managed with the complicity of foreign powers and domestic politicians to avoid facing justice both when he was in France and when he returned to Haiti in 2011,” said Robert Fatton Jr., a University of Virginia professor and the author of “Haiti: Trapped in the Outer Periphery.” “Because he escaped trial, the extent of his crimes and looting will not be fully documented.”

Mr. Duvalier was born July 3, 1951, in Port-au-Prince. Biographical sketches published when he became president described him as an introvert who liked fast cars and jazz, and a martial arts enthusiast. He spoke Spanish and French, and attended classes at the University of Haiti, though diplomats whispered that he was unprepared for office, and speculated that his father’s ministers would hold the real power.

“He did not have the vision or sense to change what his father left for him,” said Amy Wilentz, the author of “The Rainy Season: Haiti Since Duvalier” and other works on the country. “He was like a young prince. His father’s people controlled him, and he never got out from under them.”

Mr. Duvalier rarely granted interviews and kept public appearances to a minimum, but details of lavish spending on art, clothing and a wedding believed to have cost $5 million trickled out of the presidential palace.

That marriage was in 1980, to Michele Bennett, the daughter of a wealthycoffee baron, whose worldly ways and outspoken manner led many to believe she was actually running the country. They divorced in 1993.

Whether of his own volition or at the urging of others, Mr. Duvalier took obvious cues from his father, and while occasionally releasing political prisoners or tolerating critical news coverage, he quickly quashed serious dissent.

He curried favor with the United States, and exploited its Cold War aims to ensure that Haiti did not fall under Cuba’s sway by bargaining for aid, though his government did not receive all that it believed it needed.

Still, investment increased and he pushed urbanization and public works projects, drawing poor farmers from the countryside to such an extent that some argue that agriculture fell into an irreversible decline. The large Haitian diaspora blossomed as people fled and sent money home, buttressing the weak economy.

He welcomed nongovernment organizations to fill in what his government could not or would not do, leading to a heavy presence that still exists today.

“The years of Jean-Claude Duvalier were also the time of a ramping up of the current highly fragmented landscape of aid delivery in Haiti,” said Laurent Dubois, an expert on modern Haitian history at Duke University.

“Jean-Claude Duvalier inherited a carefully constructed state apparatus for political repression from his father, and he largely maintained it during his regime,” Mr. Dubois said.

“But he also cultivated new connections with the U.S., seeking new types of investment in the country,” he added. “The model of using small manufacturing to expand the economy — some talked of Haiti becoming the ‘Taiwan of the Caribbean’ — was a key part of his economic policy, though even he later admitted that its ultimate success in alleviating poverty was quite limited.”

As political oppression mounted, so did stories of his extravagances. When he fled Haiti, American officials said he held $200 million to $500 million in foreign bank accounts and had a reputation for giving family members million-dollar vacations at luxury resorts, as millions of Haitians lived in squalor and scrounged for food.

While in exile, he kept a low profile, vowing to return to Haiti before he did so on Jan. 16, 2011.

He said in an interview that the 2010 earthquake that devastated the capital broke his heart, and that he wanted to help rebuild the country, not inject himself into politics or the chaotic presidential election unfolding at the time, eventually won by Mr. Martelly.

He looked frail and far thinner than the 250 pounds he once carried on his six-foot frame, and with occasional trips to the hospital, Haitian media speculated that he had returned home to die.

Mr. Duvalier is survived by his companion, Veronique Roy, and a son and daughter from his first marriage, François Nicolas and Anya.

*****

Jean-Claude Duvalier (French: [ʒɑ̃klod dyvalje]), nicknamed "Bébé Doc" or "Baby Doc" (July 3, 1951 – October 4, 2014), was the President of Haiti from 1971 until his overthrow by a popular uprising in 1986. He succeeded his father François "Papa Doc" Duvalier as the ruler of Haiti after the latter's death in 1971. After assuming power, he introduced cosmetic changes to his father's regime and delegated much authority to his advisors, though thousands of Haitians were killed or tortured, and hundreds of thousands fled the country.[1] He maintained a notoriously lavish lifestyle (including a state-sponsored US$2 million wedding in 1980), and made millions from involvement in the drug trade and from selling body parts from dead Haitians while poverty among his people remained the most widespread of any country in the Western Hemisphere.[2]

Duvalier unexpectedly returned to Haiti on January 16, 2011, after two decades in self-imposed exile in France. The following day, he was arrested by Haitian police, facing possible charges for embezzlement.[2] On January 18, Duvalier was charged with corruption.[4] On February 28, 2013, Duvalier pleaded not guilty to charges of corruption and human rights abuse.[5] He died of a heart attack on October 4, 2014, at the age of 63.

Contents

Duvalier was born in Port-au-Prince and was raised in an isolated environment. He attended Nouveau College Bird and Saint-Louis de Gonzague. Later, he studied law at the Université d'Etat d'Haïti (University of Haiti), under the direction of several professors, including Maître Gérard Gourgue. In April 1971, he assumed the presidency of Haiti at the age of 19 upon the death of his father, François Duvalier (nicknamed "Papa Doc"), becoming the world's youngest president.[6] Initially, Jean-Claude Duvalier resisted the dynastic arrangement that had made him Haiti's leader, having preferred that the presidency go to his older sister Marie-Denise Duvalier, and was content to leave substantive and administrative matters in the hands of his mother, Simone Ovide Duvalier, and a committee led by Luckner Cambronne, his father's Interior Minister, while he attended ceremonial functions and lived as a playboy.[3]

Duvalier was invested with near-absolute power by the constitution. He took some steps to reform the regime, by releasing some political prisoners and easing press censorship. However, there were no substantive changes to the regime's basic character. Opposition was not tolerated, and the legislature remained a rubber stamp.

Much of the Duvaliers' wealth came from the Régie du Tabac (Tobacco Administration). Duvalier used this "non-fiscal account", established decades earlier, as a tobaccomonopoly, but he later expanded it to include the proceeds from other government enterprises and used it as a slush fund for which no balance sheets were ever kept.[7]

By neglecting his role in government, Duvalier squandered considerable domestic and foreign goodwill and facilitated the dominance of Haitian affairs by a clique of hardline Duvalierist cronies, the so-called "dinosaurs". Foreign officials and observers also seemed tolerant toward "Baby Doc" in areas such as human rights monitoring, and foreign countries were more generous to him with economic assistance. The Nixon administrationrestored the United States aid program for Haiti in 1971.[7]

The extravagance of the couple's wedding, which was estimated at the time to have cost US$2 million, did not lack local critics, though The Christian Science Monitor reported that "[it] was enthusiastically received by a majority of Haitians."[8] Discontent among the business community and elite intensified in response to increased corruption among the Duvaliers and the Bennett family's dealings, which included selling Haitian cadavers to foreign medical schools and trafficking in narcotics. Increased political repression added to the volatility of the situation.[3]

The marriage also estranged the old-line Duvalierists in the government from the younger technocrats whom Duvalier had appointed, including Jean-Marie Chanoine, Frantz Merceron, Frantz-Robert Monde, and Theo Achille. The Duvalierists' spiritual leader, Duvalier's mother, Simone Ovide Duvalier, was eventually expelled from Haiti, reportedly at the request of Michèle Duvalier. With his wife Duvalier had two children, François Nicolas and Anya.[9]

In response to an outbreak of African swine fever virus on the island in 1978, U.S. agricultural authorities insisted upon total eradication of Haiti's pig population. The Program for the Eradication of Porcine Swine Fever and for the Development of Pig Raising (PEPPADEP) caused widespread hardship among the peasant population, who bred pigs as an investment.[10]

In addition, reports that HIV/AIDS was becoming a major problem in Haiti caused tourism to decline dramatically in the early 1980s. By the mid-1980s, most Haitians expressed hopelessness and helplessness, as economic conditions worsened and hunger and malnutrition spread.[11]

Widespread discontent began in March 1983, when Pope John Paul II visited Haiti. The pontiff declared that "Something must change here." He went on to call for a more equitable distribution of income, a more egalitarian social structure, more concern among the elite for the well-being of the masses, and increased popular participation in public life. This message revitalized both laymen and clergy, and it contributed to increased popular mobilization and to expanded political and social activism.[7]

In 1984 Ernest Preeg, U.S. ambassador to Haiti (1981–1983), wrote a monograph[12] on Haiti's part in the Reagan Caribbean Basin Initiative. One paragraph stated ..."It can honestly be said that the Jean-Claude Duvalier presidency is the longest period of violence-free stability in the nation's history."

A revolt began in the provinces in 1985. The city of Gonaïves was the first to have street demonstrations and raids on food-distribution warehouses. From October 1985 to January 1986, the protests spread to six other cities, including Cap-Haïtien. By the end of that month, Haitians in the south had revolted. The most significant rioting there broke out in Les Cayes.[7]

Duvalier responded with a 10 percent cut in staple food prices, the closing of independent radio stations, a cabinet reshuffle, and a crackdown by police and army units, but these moves failed to dampen the momentum of the popular uprising against the dynastic dictatorship. Duvalier's wife and advisers, intent on maintaining their grip on power, urged him to put down the rebellion and remain in office.[7]

In January 1986, the Reagan administration began to pressure Duvalier to renounce his rule and to leave Haiti. Representatives appointed by Jamaican Prime Minister Edward Seaga served as intermediaries who carried out the negotiations. At this point a number of Duvalierists, and business leaders, met with the Duvaliers and pressed for their departure. The United States rejected a request to provide asylum for Duvalier, but offered to assist with the Duvaliers' departure. Duvalier had initially accepted on January 30, 1986, and President Reagan actually announced his departure, based on a report from the Haitian CIA Station Chief who saw Duvalier's car head for the airport. En route, there was gunfire and Duvalier's party returned to the palace unnoticed by the U.S. intelligence team.[13] Duvalier declared "we are as firm as a monkey tail." He departed on February 7, 1986, flying to France in a U.S. Air Force aircraft.[9]

The Duvaliers settled in France. For a time they lived a luxurious life. Although he formally applied for political asylum, his request was denied by French authorities. Duvalier lost most of his wealth with his 1993 divorce from his wife.[14] While apparently living modestly in exile, Duvalier did have supporters, who founded the François Duvalier Foundation in 2006 to promote positive aspects of the Duvalier presidency, including the creation of most of Haiti's state institutions and improved access to education for the country's black majority.[15]

A private citizen, Jacques Samyn, unsuccessfully sued to expel Duvalier as an illegal immigrant (the Duvaliers were never officially granted asylum in France). Then, in 1998, a Haitian-born photographer, Gérard Bloncourt, formed a committee in Paris to bring Duvalier to trial. At the time, the French Ministry of the Interior said that it could not verify whether Duvalier still remained in the country due to the recently enactedSchengen Agreement which had abolished systematic border controls between the participating countries.[16] However, Duvalier's lawyer Sauveur Vaisse said that his client was still in France and denied that the exiled leader had fallen on hard times.[17]

The 2004 Global Transparency Report listed Duvalier as one of the World's Most Corrupt Leaders. He was listed sixth, between Slobodan Milošević and Alberto Fujimori, and was said to have amassed between $300 million and $800 million.[18][19]

Following the ousting of president Jean-Bertrand Aristide in February 2004, Duvalier announced his intention to return to Haiti to run for president in the 2006 elections for the National Unity Party; however, he did not become a candidate.[20]

On September 22–23, 2007, an address by Duvalier to Haitians was broadcast by radio. Although he said exile had "broken" him, he also said that what he described as the improving fortunes of the National Unity Party had "reinvigorated" him, and he urged readiness among his supporters, without saying whether he intended to return to Haiti.[21] President René Préval rejected Duvalier's apology and, on September 28, he said that, while Duvalier was constitutionally free to return to Haiti, he would face trial if he did so.[22] Duvalier's radio broadcast address was given in French and not Haitian Creole, the language spoken by the majority of Haitians.[23]

In February 2010, a Swiss court agreed to release more than US$4 million to Jean-Claude Duvalier,[24] although the Swiss Foreign Ministry said it would continue to block the release of the money.[25]

Duvalier lived in Paris with Véronique Roy, his longtime companion and chief public-relations representative, until his return to Haiti in late January 2011.[14] Roy is the granddaughter of Paul Magloire, President of Haïti from 1950 to 1956.[26][27]

On January 16, 2011, Duvalier returned to Haiti after 25 years[28] during the presidential election campaign. Accompanied by Véronique Roy, he flew in from Paris, indicating that he wanted to help: "I'm not here for politics. I'm here for the reconstruction of Haiti", he said.[4] However, many argued that Duvalier returned to Haiti to gain access to the $4 million frozen in the Swiss bank account. Haiti also claimed this money, arguing that the assets were of "criminal origin" and should not be returned to Duvalier. By virtue of Swiss law, however, states claiming money in Switzerland have to demonstrate that they have started criminal investigations against offenders holding money in the country. According to an article by Ginger Thompson in the New York Times, "if Mr. Duvalier had been able to slip into the country and then quietly leave without incident... he may have been able to argue that Haiti was no longer interested in prosecuting him—and that the money should be his."[29] According to Mac McClelland of Mother Jones magazine:

The former dictator was greeted at the Port-au-Prince airport with cheering and celebratory chanting ... The word from Duvalier is that he's come to help his country. According to everyone on the street and on the radio, the Americans and the French conspired to bring him here to upset current president René Préval, who's been accused of fixing his country's recent elections.[30]

On January 18, 2011, he was taken into custody at his hotel by Haitian authorities.[31] He was charged with corruption, theft, and misappropriation of funds committed during his 15-year presidency. He was released but was subject to recall by the court.[4]

By September 22, 2011, legal procedures against him appeared to have stalled. He was reported to be living under a loosely enforced house arrest, enjoying a life of luxury in a suburb of Port-au-Prince.[32] By January 30, 2012, it was announced that the former president would face charges of corruption, but not for human right abuses.[33][34]

After the former president failed to appear for three previously scheduled court hearings, a Haitian judge issued a warrant ordering him to appear before the court February 28, 2013. Duvalier did so and for the first time pleaded not guilty to charges of corruption and human rights abuse.[5]

The attorney for Jean-Claude Duvalier, Reynold Georges, reported that the former president died in his home of a heart attack on October 4, 2014.[35]

*****

Jean-ClaudeDuvalier, byname Baby Doc, French Bébé Doc (born July 3, 1951, Port-au-Prince, Haiti—died October 4, 2014, Port-au-Prince), president of Haiti from 1971 to 1986.

The only son of François (“Papa Doc”) Duvalier, Jean-Claude succeeded his father as president for life in April 1971, becoming at age 19 the youngest president in the world. Partly because of pressure from the United States to moderate the tyrannical and corrupt practices of his father’s regime, Duvalier instituted budgetary and judicial reforms, replaced a few older cabinet members with younger men, released some political prisoners, and eased press censorship, professing a policy of “gradual democratization of institutions.”

Nevertheless, no sharp changes from previous policies occurred. No political opposition was tolerated, and all important political officials and judges were still appointed by the president. Under Duvalier, Haiti continued a semi-isolationist approach to foreign relations, although the government actively solicited foreign aid to stimulate the economy. Duvalier graduated from secondary school in Port-au-Prince and briefly attended law school at the University of Haiti. In 1980 he married Michèle Bennett, who later supplanted Duvalier’s hard-line mother, Simone, in Haitian politics. In the face of increasing social unrest, however, Duvalier and his wife left the country in February 1986, and a military council headed the country for several years. From 1986 Duvalier resided in France, despite the urging of Haitian authorities that he be extradited to stand trial for human rights abuses. He returned to Haiti in January 2011, one year after the devastating 2010 earthquake. Two days later Duvalier was taken into custody by authorities for questioning regarding alleged corruption and embezzlement during his rule; he was subsequently released. He remained in Haiti but refused several times to appear for hearings on human rights violations he was alleged to have committed while president. In late February 2013 Duvalier was taken before a pretrial hearing to face questioning on those charges.

*****

Jean-ClaudeDuvalier, byname Baby Doc, French Bébé Doc (born July 3, 1951, Port-au-Prince, Haiti—died October 4, 2014, Port-au-Prince), president of Haiti from 1971 to 1986.

The only son of Francois ("Papa Doc") Duvalier, Jean-Claude succeeded his father as president for life in April 1971, becoming at age 19 the youngest president in the world. Partly because of pressure from the United States to moderate the tyrannical and corrupt practices of his father’s regime, Duvalier instituted budgetary and judicial reforms, replaced a few older cabinet members with younger men, released some political prisoners, and eased press censorship, professing a policy of “gradual democratization of institutions.”

Nevertheless, no sharp changes from previous policies occurred. No political opposition was tolerated, and all important political officials and judges were still appointed by the president. Under Duvalier, Haiti continued a semi-isolationist approach to foreign relations, although the government actively solicited foreign aid to stimulate the economy.

Duvalier graduated from secondary school in Port-au-Prince and briefly attended law school at the University of Haiti. In 1980 he married Michèle Bennett, who later supplanted Duvalier’s hard-line mother, Simone, in Haitian politics. In the face of increasing social unrest, however, Duvalier and his wife left the country in February 1986, and a military council headed the country for several years. From 1986 Duvalier resided in France, despite the urging of Haitian authorities that he be extradited to stand trial for human rights abuses.

Duvalier returned to Haiti in January 2011, one year after the devastating 2010 earthquake. Two days later, Duvalier was taken into custody by authorities for questioning regarding alleged corruption and embezzlement during his rule; he was subsequently released. He remained in Haiti but refused several times to appear for hearings on human rights violations he was alleged to have committed while president. In late February 2013, Duvalier was taken before a pretrial hearing to face questioning on those charges.